‘Believe in yourself!’

That’s what you just read.

Sounds good, quite exciting.

So much better than those undermining, demoralizing, negative stories you’ve encountered so often.

That super bad shit, told by the dark voice in your head.

But, hey, no more, time to go for it and change the music, right?

Awesome!

Where do you start?

The Insta post didn’t really say that, if you remember it well.

When you scroll through the app and find it again, you read

‘Believe in yourself! If nobody else does it, then it’s up to you. You have the power, you can make it happen. So just believe you can do it, believe you deserve the best life out there, believe everything is possible and it WILL happen, guaranteed!’

Another bolt of inspiration.

Yes, cool, it WILL happen!

Guaranteed!

Now you’re really ready to crush it.

But… you still don’t know what to do.

So you google it and click the first result.

‘Believing in yourself is about changing your mind. It’s about becoming who you really want to be. Start thinking thoughts that empower you, that make you feel good, and that set you up for success! Just change your bad and destructive thoughts into good, inspiring, and grateful ones. If you believe in yourself there’s nothing that will stop you, so do it, do it now, because now is the time, now is the ONLY time!’

Aha!

Yes!

Now is the only time, wow.

Makes sense.

But still: how do you do it?

The last time you tried to change your thoughts you realized very quickly you’re always too late.

Thoughts seem to be doing whatever they want to do, and when they’re there, well, they’re there, exactly the way they are.

And every time, after a minute of trying to come up with alternative thoughts that lift you up, you run out of new ones, and the shitty, compulsive thoughts start coming back effortlessly.

How do you believe in something?

How does that work?

Can you sit on the couch and do it?

Do you need to close your eyes?

Do you do it out loud, or in silence?

Is it a high-level spiritual activity, like a mantra or something?

Where do you start, and how do you know it’s working?

Now you’re really confused.

So you return to Google.

‘If you’re confused, don’t be. It will not help you to be successful or attain your goals, so just stop it. Think clear thoughts, think thoughts that make sense and don’t confuse you, and get rid of the ones that don’t serve you, now. Believe you can stop being confused and it WILL happen!’

Aha!

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(Photo by @creaslim, for Unsplash)